In the past, the true crime fascination of most viewers would have been deemed as sick and most of them would have kept it hidden as a guilty pleasure. Luckily today there are countless explanations of why we like the genre so much. We won’t dig into those. You know who you are, and you should be proud of liking true crime. To the haters, we say: no, it isn’t dangerous, and it doesn’t represent dark desires or anything in that regard.
Yet sometimes, even we are shocked and disturbed by pieces of true crime. We probably feel we aren’t squeamish anymore, but on those occasions, we toy around with the idea of pressing stop and taking a break. Sometimes, we just can’t take it anymore.
These are the true crime films and TV shows that made us get too close to the reality where monsters thrive and humankind is conquered by darkness. These are the most disturbing true crime documentaries out there.
15 The Staircase
Jean-Xavier de Lestrade began his journey in 2001 when he decided to chronicle the trial of Michael Peterson who was accused of murdering his wife. This is how the documentary series The Staircase began its production. Originally released in 2004, The Staircase humanized a man whose image had been destroyed by American media in the past and yes, the documentary made everyone doubt. In 2018, the French director returned to the Peterson household and followed up on the case with more episodes.
It’s safe to say we will never know if Michael killed his wife or not. But the documentary was revealing enough to make us argue about his guilt or innocence. Our blood boiled upon seeing Peterson smiling during some situations, but that doesn’t make him a killer. Almost 20 years after the gruesome events, it’s impossible to say what happened, but Lestrade’s work is a great piece on the effect of ambiguity and demonization.
14 Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey
In 2022, Netflix released the shocking docuseries Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, a shocking look inside Mormonism and its most extreme branch. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was led by Warren Jeffs, a horrible man who set his own rules and basically formed a cult. The series is mostly based on testimonies by survivors who dared to speak about what took place inside the church.
If you think the testimonies aren’t enough, the series will also show you that Jeffs was recorded during his sessions in which he sexually assaulted minors. The effect goes beyond believing Jeffs or not; you will actually despise the monster he is, and you’re entitled to that feeling.
13 Capturing the Friedmans
In Andrew Jarecki’s excellent documentary, Capturing the Friedmans, he takes us deep inside a family with too many secrets. When Arnold and Jesse Friedman are accused of having child pornography but also of sexual molestation, this caused the Friedman family to break down. Among doubts and absolute trust, one of Arnold’s sons started recording his family. What follows is Jarecki’s supercut of the perfect working-class image being torn down to pieces, as accusations of incest and sexual assault between the brothers start emerging. To capture these revealing dynamics is very difficult, but doing it from the inside out is a brutal blow that we’ll never recover from.
12 Wild, Wild Country
The Netflix documentary series Wild, Wild Country is an impressive account of the events that took place when the Rajneeshpuram community settled in a rural part of Oregon. Their leader, Osho, is seen as a visionary man whose spirituality was so invasive he had magic powers. But yeah, they were also a cult capable of crime. The series is very well-written and reveals enough about Osho to draw a picture of the legendary leader whose real intentions we’ll never know. What’s disturbing about this is the footage of cult members under the spell of Osho, but also the testimonies of those who still believe in his ideology.
11 Jesus Camp
The great documentary by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, Jesus Camp, is a raw testimony that we should feel grateful for. Without being partial to one side or the other, Jesus Camp simply shows what takes place on a summer camp in which children learn how to “bring America back to Christ.” They’re taught how to preach, how to stay away from demons that come in the shape of books and films, and how to fight the true enemies of the evangelical Christian church. We are impartial in terms of religion, but it’s shocking to see children being manipulated and subjected to techniques that make them wail for spiritual reasons.
10 Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
This is the one we never saw coming and tore our hearts to pieces. Kurt Kuenne makes a documentary about his friend Andrew Bagby, who was murdered under suspicious circumstances. Bagby was a father, so Kuenne also addresses the film as a letter to the child. What we don’t know is that there’s a villain in this story, and Kuenne makes a very good point of why we should be very afraid of Bagby’s widow and mother to his son. We won’t spoil this one for you, but again, you should be prepared for this one. Seeing Andrew’s parents evolve in the documentary is just harrowing.
9 There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane
We will never know what happened that day when Diane Schuler drove almost 2 miles in the wrong direction and caused the deaths of 8 people, her daughter and 3 nieces among them, in a parkway near New York. The documentary is a disturbing dive into the events of that day and what led Diane to intoxicate herself with drugs and alcohol before willingly deciding to do something that wasn’t going to end well.
The film is a great document that tries to explain the reasons why Diane may have done this but also sheds light on why we should avoid prejudice in this case. The film has a very controversial image of Diane we wouldn’t dare show here. Again, we will never know why it happened.
8 O.J.: Made in America
What makes O.J.: Made in America so disturbing is how ominous it feels, considering we already know how everything happens and where it all ends. Ezra Edelman’s masterpiece sheds more light on facts that we weren’t familiar with in the beginning, and weren’t part of the media frenzy that was the trial back in the day.
When it comes to true crime, it doesn’t get any better than this one. Stick to the miniseries and not the theatrical cut.
7 American Murder: The Family Next Door
The Netflix documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door, is cut using a found-footage format that consists of real footage recorded when the Watts family murders were only a case of missing people. Using recreations of social media posts and text messages, we come to know the insides of a family that was sadly ended by a monster.
When everything is finally explained in the end, it’s shocking to think minutes prior we had seen an inconspicuous man saying he had no clue where his wife and daughters were.
6 The Act of Killing
Joshua Oppenheimer made The Act of Killing in 2012 and upset people from all over the world. In the film, Oppenheimer focuses on gangsters responsible for the murders of thousands of people during the Indonesian genocide of the mid-’60s. Anwar Congo is one of them, and he agrees with Oppenheimer to tell the stories using an artistic touch. What follows is a surreal rendering of death and torture under the mindset of a horrible man. In the very last scene, Oppenheimer is an unforgiving filmmaker who breaks the rules and submits the man, almost violently, to the gruesome details of his own acts.
5 Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist
Cleverly told in the Netflix style, Evil Genius tells the story behind the plot of the “pizza bomber” case. Brian Wells appears to be a victim of a much larger plot that Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong has many details about. The docuseries is a very insightful retelling that will make you question the very dynamics of true crime standards. The footage of the bombing, seen by many for the first time, is shocking, to say the least.
4 Mommy Dead and Dearest
Regarding the case of the Blanchards, we still have many questions. Dee Dee was a monster alright. She subjected her daughter Gypsy Rose to unimaginable things, in the weirdest case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy in modern times. But how Gypsy reacted just ups the ante. The documentary by Erin Lee Carr is a fascinating dive into the case of a woman who decided enough was enough and stood up to her mother in the most violent manner.
3 The Bridge
We will never forget this one, and you probably won’t either. Using footage from one year, shot by more than ten cameras, Eric Steel puts together a film about the suicides that take place on the Golden Gate in San Francisco. Testimonies by those related to victims are shocking, but once you see live jumps, your stomach will drop. We don’t have to say why this is disturbing. There are many, many jumpers. But the case of a long-haired man works as a frame narrative because of how long the footage is. To see him finally do what he came to do will leave you in silence. For days.
2 Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer
When it comes to the very extensive catalog of true crime at Netflix, Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer is by far the best option you gave. The docuseries chronicling the very strange case of Luka Magnotta and his fascination with animal torture is impressively well-told using the testimonies of those who used the Internet to hunt him down. This one’s pretty disturbing because it allows you to go back in time and bear witness to the live events, where suddenly a notification about a horrible video you weren’t supposed to watch popped up.
1 Paradise Lost Trilogy
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky made Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills in 1996 and immediately got the public’s attention. This was a case of a modern witch hunt in which three teenagers were tried and convicted for ritualistic murders in which three boys lost their lives. With this film, we already had concerns about the trial and the horrible mishandling of justice.
For more than ten years, the West Memphis Three were in our minds as boys accused of listening to heavy metal. When they were released, we felt justice arrived. But what makes this so disturbing is that after three films, we still don’t understand the police refusing to fully investigate the murders of three innocent kids whose lives ended much too early and very, very violently.
